When Obama Hears Of McCain’s Diagnosis, He Reminds Us How A Real President Acts

Wednesday evening, it was revealed that the surgery John McCain underwent recently to remove a blood clot behind his eye uncovered a brain tumor, according to a statement from the Mayo Clinic, reported in the Washington Post. Until that point, much of the discussion of McCain’s hospital stay and recovery had centered on his absence during the GOP’s critical vote on health care, which was initially delayed for that reason. But with the discovery of a glioblastoma in his brain, all eyes are now on whether or not he will return to the Senate at all, let alone for anything of pressing importance.

As of this writing, Donald Trump, who is seemingly addicted to Twitter’s ability to perform instantaneous “press releases” of every little thing he has to say, had not weighed in on the grim diagnosis. But McCain’s former rival for the presidency had, and though the number will surely be different when you read this, Barack Obama’s tweet wishing McCain well had been retweeted well over 100,000 times in just over an hour:

John McCain is an American hero & one of the bravest fighters I’ve ever known. Cancer doesn’t know what it’s up against. Give it hell, John.

It was a welcome reprieve from the hateful partisan divide currently festering in Washington, where it has become increasingly rare to see even a kind word for those who have opposed you in the past. But Obama’s statesmanship hasn’t diminished an ounce since leaving office, and Twitter was happy to let him know how much they missed seeing decency and compassion:

Andrew hates long walks on the beach, glitter, and men's rights activists. He can usually be found with his long-suffering wife, who can usually be found asking him to please not order onions on that burger, babe.